5" S&W 60, J frame revolver

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Stormin.40

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Looking for thoughts/advice on the model 60 in 357 magnum with a 5" barrel. I have been looking for a 4" 357 for use as a home defense weapon but also a trail gun and fun range gun. I would like to teach my wife to shoot at some point and she liked the trigger on my 642 j frame.

Would a model 60 withstand say 500 rounds of fairly stout 357 rounds per year? This would be the most I can think I would shoot of the 357 variety, the rest would be middle of the road 38s.

As a potential trail gun how painful would stout 180grain hard cast loads feel? Are holsters commercially available?

My gut says to wait and find a used S&W 66, but that hasn't been easy lately.
 
I looked over second-hand one about year ago. The gun had potential but nobody seemed to agree few were sold and S&W D/C this barrel length after short run. These were made on magnum J-frame so shooting .357 with nice rubber replacement grip from say Hogue would not be a problem. I would not want to use it as range gun that task is for L, N frames and legendary Ruger GP100
 
The 66 is probably a better option is a K frame. I passed one up about a month ago for $450, went back a half hour later to pick up and it was gone.
 
The 60/5" will give you true .357 Magnum performance out of a 5" barrel in a package that's easy to pack. However the factory's choice of stocks was truly dumb. With larger square-butt grips it both looks and feels much better. The frame was redesigned and beefed up to handle the cartridge - and will. However many shooters may elect to stick with .38 Special's.
 
I have J frame .357s in 3” and 5”. The 5” is a nice match for my 5” Model 63. After smoothing the trigger a bit and playing with springs it has as nice a trigger as you are going to get in a J frame. It shoots well and with Pachmayr Decelerator grips it is easy to handle, but I wouldn’t say it is quite as good a range gun as my 627Pro or 627PC or even my 696SSR, but they are all bigger and may be too big for your wife. If they are and you can find grips you like, the 5” 60 would be fine, I just wouldn’t plan to put full power ammo through it all the time.
 
I had one of the 5" 60's

It was a very nice well made smooth operating gun that was as naturally pointing as your finger.

But for whatever reason I just couldn't hit anything with mine.

So I let it go. It was apparently just one of those individual examples that just didn't have it going on.




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complains about
 
I had one, had it freeze up, hammer cocked with a full cylinder. Decided not to trust it after that and sold it with no regret. The 4" SP101 is on my list, if it's half as good as my 2.25" SP it'll be a keeper.
 
I had one of the 5" 60's

It was a very nice well made smooth operating gun that was as naturally pointing as your finger.

But for whatever reason I just couldn't hit anything with mine.

So I let it go. It was apparently just one of those individual examples that just didn't have it going on.




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complains about

I didn't want to mention that, as I thought it might just be me. I think it's the two piece barrel. I've had two other Smiths with the two piece barrel and they gave sub-par accuracy, prompting my move to the Ruger.

I also noticed that the 5" Smith is really more of a 4.6", due to the recessed muzzle for the barrel wrench. The Ruger is 4.2", so it's not really that much of a loss.
 
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